Cowboy Up!

I've actually got a lot of things to cover in this post.

But let's start with the title. I've been working a lot more large animal in the morning and subsuquently cutting a lot more twists! Including one RDA! I purchased a pair of leather work boots and a pair of Tingley's to go with them and have enjoyed the warmth of my feet very much. That aside...One morning, I was heading home but then got a phone call from the clinic for a call. It was 10:45-I had to be at HP at 12:30. I asked if they had talked to BF about this and then dropped the call. Returning the call, they had and I was to go to the other end of our practice area and look at a Scottish Higland cow that was flapping its ears. No joke. BUT flapping its ears can be anything from the serious listeroisis and even more serious rabies to ear mites, lice and other exoparasites. So begrudgingly, I drove down the the other end of the county and realized that I had failed with veterinary rule #1-make sure the animal is captured. There were about half a dozen of these red shaggy long horned beasts that were pets roaming around. Mine of course was laying comfortably at the far end of the pasture...flapping her ears. The Os thought that she was nice enough and we might be able to walk up to her. I took my halter and we trudged out to the pasture. The cow jumped up and proceeded to do her little neurological bit-shaking ears, stamping her feet, kicking, licking her sides, tossing her head. Ummm...this could still be anything. We chased her around trying to get her to a smaller pen. And she refused. Checking the time, I had to bail and told the clients that I would come back the next morning but the cow had to be caught. So the next morning after a handful of calls, I went out again. The cow was caught between two gates-one of which was tied to the fence with baling wire-and two fences of high tensile wire. I gathered all I could think of and went to see the cow. She wasn't pleased but in the course of her swinging around I managed to snag a handful of her hair. Which was COVERED with nits! Lice! She was driven insane with lice! So I got some injectable dewormer and had a plan. I climbed into the pen with the cow and promptly was sent back up the gate-she was swinging her head around and trying to gore me. I ended up with a big bruise on my arm. I managed to drop a lasso over her head and got her tied to the fence post. There was lots of yelling and whistling to convince the cow to come our way. From over the fence, I gave the injection and let the cow go. It didn't go great, but not bad. I advised the Os to get some pour on dewormer and do the whole herd. I called the office to get the bill total because these people were new clients. The bill was something like $73. Yep, totally worth the risk I had faced.

Emergencies-I was on last weekend and two days this week. It was pretty tiring. However, no matter how bad Friday was, it was the best day ever! Why? Because, I wasn't on call Friday night! Over the weekend, when BF and TH were gone and worried about me being solo, I only had small animal calls. Saturday, a pug with a PU that ended up having ulcers-suspected. He was really anemic and when I got the CBC back Tuesday, also had a major infection someplace. He's doing okay. Sunday, I did a recheck on a dog, saw Biscuit Lemmon the beagle with every problem imaginable and finally two dogs that had been attacked by another dog. I sewed one of them up solo. At least there will be some nice emergency money. Re: the recheck-Saturday, this dog came in and was completely laterally recumbant. You had to check to make sure it was breathing. It had been seen at another hospital and they had radiographed it-a large spleen and sent it home with some pain meds. I don't know what it looked like then  but now it seriously didn't look good. Bloodwork was completely normal! WTF? The only difference was that it came up Lyme positive where the dog hadn't before. So we threw everything at it-a liter of fluids, a whopping amount of antibiotics and a huge dose of steroids. (Nothing should die without steroids.) The owners were considering euthansia but thought that the dog was doing slightly better. I saw it Sunday and the dog did sit up but was not there mentally. I repeated the treatments. By Tuesday, the dog was riding in the car. By Thursday, the dog looked completely normal. It was really like the dog had been sedated the whole time. Crazy.

It snowed Friday into Saturday night. We ended up with about four inches-an acceptable amount. I like snow until it gets all tramped through and pooped in and then its just gross. I hate the piles of road salted gray snow in parking lots. I hate half melted leaf covered snowmen. So I'm ready for the snow to melt. That and I have to do large animal on Tuesday. Because of the snow, Joe and I didn't go to Lancaster. We ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then did some other things including looking in the windows of the old farmhouse that needs repair. It apparently needs alot of repair!

Wedding planning has been going surprisingly well. We had some money worries-how do we plan MY dream wedding with no money? So we put my student loan in forebearance saving me $850/month and then we got a loan from the bank to cover the large items. We have a photographer hired, reception hall, chairs rented, wedding dress purchased as well as flowers. I was able to get a great deal on wedding flowers-$500 worth for $250! I still have to set up an appointment with them. I still have to pay for the last part of the wedding dress which hasn't come in yet and do alterations. Tuesday we have a tasting for the caterer which honestly, I intend on hiring. The big things that we have left-DJ, someone to actually marry us, tuxes, wedding rings. On the wedding ring front, Joe and I were going to go to Lancaster to get my engagement ring inspected and determine what we like in wedding bands. BUT we pretty much already have some picked out. Joe and I are planning on going with these rings with the fingerprints. They are unique and different. Plus think about this-you can write whatever sappy engraving you want but a fingerprint is something that is only yours and to get to carry around a little unique piece of your loved one is special. So instead of going to Lancaster, Joe and I worked on our wedding registry. We are registered at Kohl's and will be at Target once they get their stupid system working. We tried two stores too. I also have been working on painting 30 wooden birdhouses. Its not as fun as it sounds. However, they will be cute table number holders.

The cats are doing okay. The ponies are being ignored. The dogs are doing okay. Mary came home limping terribly after her first trip to the dog park. Also, she had been wearing a dog sweater which unfortunately didn't fit her perfectly and subsuquently made sores on her legs. Poor stupid dog.

I'm excited for my upcoming birthday and party! Nacho birthday! I thought I had more things but apparently not.